The present invention relates to a write/read head supporting mechanism for write/read systems such as hard disk drives (hereinafter HDDs for short) or optical disk drives, and a write/read system comprising such a write/read head supporting mechanism.
A prior art magnetic head supporting mechanism used with HDDs is generally built up of a slider having an electromagnetic transducer element, a suspension for supporting the slider, and an interconnecting pattern connected to the electromagnetic transducer element.
The electromagnetic transducer element comprises a magnetic pole and coil for converting electric signals to magnetic signals, and vice versa, a magnetoresistance effect element for transforming magnetic signals to voltage signals, and so on, each being fabricated by thin-film techniques, assembly techniques, etc. The slider is formed of non-magnetic ceramics such as Al2O3xe2x80x94TiC or CaTiO3 or a magnetic material such as ferrite, and has a generally cuboidal shape. The surface (air bearing surface) of the slider opposite to a disk medium is processed into a shape suitable for generating pressure to fly the slider on the disk medium at a small spacing.
The suspension for supporting the magnetic head is formed by bending, punching or otherwise processing a resilient stainless sheet.
Proposed for the interconnecting pattern are an arrangement where, as typically set forth in JU-A 61-153117, an interconnecting wire formed on the suspension is connected to the electromagnetic transducer element by way of a lead wire, and an arrangement where all interconnecting wires are brought in close contact with the surface of the suspension.
On the other hand, a HDD is increasingly required to be downsized with ever-higher recording density and, hence, have ever-higher track density and ever-narrower track width. To improve tracking precision in a high-density recording HDD, it is effective to provide the magnetic head with an actuator for effecting a micro-displacement of the electromagnetic transducer element or slider with respect to the suspension. Such an actuator, for instance, is disclosed in JP-A""s 6-259905, 6-309822 and 8-180623.
A problem with the magnetic head having an actuator is that interconnecting wires for connecting the suspension side to the electromagnetic transducer element are likely to provide an impediment to the relative displacement of the slider with respect to the suspension, which occurs when the slider is driven by the actuator.
However, the above publications disclosing the provision of the actuator say nothing about the interconnecting wires for connecting the suspension side to the electromagnetic transducer element. In other words or as a matter of course, the influence the interconnecting wires have on the displacement capability of the actuator is not taken into consideration.
An object of the present invention is to provide a write/read head supporting mechanism for a magnetic or optical disk system having a micro-displacement actuator, by which any impediment to the displacement capability of the actuator is eliminated.
Such an object is achievable by the constructions of the invention defined below as (1) to (11).
(1) A write/read head supporting mechanism comprising a slider provided with an electromagnetic transducer element or an optical module, and a suspension, wherein said slider is supported on said suspension by way of an actuator for displacing said slider, an electrical connection to said electromagnetic transducer element or said optical module is made by a first interconnecting arrangement movable and/or deformable in a displacement direction of said slider by said actuator, and an electrical connection to said actuator is made by a second interconnecting arrangement.
(2) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to (1) above, wherein said first interconnecting arrangement includes a lead wire floating away from a surface of said suspension.
(3) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to (2) above, wherein said lead wire floating away form the surface of said suspension is a bonding wire.
(4) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to (1) above, wherein said first interconnecting arrangement includes a flexible printed wire.
(5) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to (1) above, wherein said first interconnecting arrangement is formed by bringing wires in close contact with a surface of said suspension, and then removing a part of said suspension so that a part of said wires in close contact with the surface of said suspension is placed in a floating state.
(6) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to (1) above, wherein said first interconnecting arrangement is formed on a surface of said suspension while said first interconnecting arrangement is in close contact therewith, and allowing an area of low rigidity to exist at a part of said suspension, so that said first interconnecting arrangement is movable and/or deformable in the displacement direction of said slider by said actuator.
(7) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to any one of (1) to (6) above, wherein at least one part of said first interconnecting arrangement and at least one part of said second interconnecting arrangement are unable to exist on the same surface of said suspension.
(8) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to any one of (1) to (7) above, wherein said actuator makes use of an inverse piezoelectric effect or an electrostrictive effect.
(9) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to any one of (1) to (8) above, wherein a head driving IC chip is built on said suspension.
(10) The write/read head supporting mechanism according to any one of (1) to (9) above, which includes a main actuator for driving said suspension.
(11) A write/read system which comprises a write/read head supporting mechanism as recited in any one of (1) to (10) above.